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Four men on the casting couch. The only woman is sitting behind the camera. Does it sound like the beginning of a different kind of movie? No, just the new documentary by Ruth Beckermann. – “Josefine Mutzenbacher” is an Austrian erotic novel from 1906. It follows the career of a famous Viennese prostitute. For a long time he was either banned in Germany or was on the list of badges for young people. Because the period of the book is from the eighth to the thirteenth year. So Josefine tells anecdotes of her childhood, of her first experiences, and of how she did it with which of her, with the neighbor, the teacher, the parish priest, or her own brother or father.

von Christoph Brodnjak

Under the pretext of shooting a film about this book, Beckermann invited to the casting. Dozens of men of all ages appear. He sits down on the sofa and reads passages from the novel. Some already know the book, at least by name. Sometimes it also allows men to re-enact individual scenes and dialogues. He also involves men in conversation. What do they think of the book and its content, what interests them, who they would like to interpret. He also asks about the personal experiences of men.

And that is also the main goal of “Mutzenbacher”: to simply let men talk about how they feel about sex, gender, pornography and some fantasies. Beckermann doesn’t judge her, she just keeps asking when one of the candidates is embarrassed. Men speak freely of the liver. The camera hardly ever leaves this sofa. Only occasionally does the film break on a male choir diligently singing synonyms of fucking in unison: dust, tease, fuck, etc.

It is a rather interesting approach that Beckermann is pursuing here. Because candidates say what they think of their own free will. Some of them may no longer be socially acceptable everywhere or reveal a certain worldview. It becomes especially interesting when Beckermann places two or more men next to each other, especially when they come from different generations.

However, in some places one cannot shake the feeling that Beckermann could have hoped for a little more. The conversation snippets you can see are an interesting insight, but mostly very short. Usually no conversation lasts more than a few sentences, and you can only see a handful of the dozen men more often. The issues raised are mostly only treated or dealt with in a rather superficial way, there is never really the time to deepen.

Conclusion

The idea behind “Mutzenbacher” is good, but it often seems like the director simply hoped for more. Individual thoughts and anecdotes are quite revealing, but mostly you only hear things that you already know exist anyway. That some men have this and that worldview is nothing new. It’s an exciting film, but it’s also a shame it doesn’t go as deep as hoped. Many things familiar, but conveyed in a very charming Viennese way. From 4.11. at Cinema.

assessment

(65/100)

Image: © Ruth Beckermann film production